Time Bomb(53)

Z glared at him. “And I’m supposed to give up because ‘you tried’?”

“Tad has some muscle,” Frankie added.

“And of course you’d know,” Z shot back, climbing up on one of the high-top desks. “Do you think I’m going to put Kaitlin’s life in the hands of two people who are stupid enough to spend their time jumping other guys?”

“What the hell does that mean?” Frankie clenched a fist as his heart pounded hard. “I don’t jump other guys.”

“So you just let them tackle you?” Z looked from Frankie to Tad, then back at Frankie, and smiled. “Maybe that’s exactly what you do. Tad here just told us he’s gay. How about you, Captain of the Football Team? Have you been feeling up Tad’s muscles? That how you know how strong he is?”

“Up yours.”

“You’re going to make the team jealous if they hear you say that.”

“Stop it!” Diana shouted. “This is stupid. Frankie isn’t gay.”

“You calling me stupid, Princess?” Z shoved the table in front of him as blood pounded hard in Frankie’s ears. “Maybe you should look in the mirror.”

“Screw you!” Diana shouted.

“Don’t let him get to you,” Tad said. “He’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“Yeah,” Frankie agreed. “He’s not worth listening to or getting upset over. He just wants to make everyone else as miserable as he is.”

“You think you know me?” Z pressed his hands against the ceiling tile next to the light and shoved it upward. “None of you know anything about me. So don’t pretend you do.”

“And you don’t know anything about me or Frankie or anyone else in this room,” Diana said. “We’re all stuck and we’re all scared, and just because—”

“Scared?” Z looked down from above at her. “Are you scared, Princess? Scared that for the first time in your life, you have to actually look out for yourself because there isn’t someone around to do it for you?”

“How about you stop taking your crap out on us.” Frankie shoved the table Z was standing on. Z put his hands on the ceiling to keep from falling as Frankie shouted, “Just because you’re pissed and scared doesn’t mean we have to be your personal punching bags. If you hadn’t noticed, we haven’t done anything to you.”

“Yeah.” Z looked down at all of them from above, sweat dripping down his forehead as he nodded. “None of you have ever done a damn thing. And if we get out of here, you can keep on doing nothing.”

Z yanked the light fixture downward. Dust and bits of tile rained from the ceiling as the light now hung an inch or two below it. Z continued to pull at it and budged it just a couple of inches more.

Frankie and Tad had both been right about the wire being strong.

“Now, that’s impressive,” Diana said. “At this rate, you’ll have enough wire to make a ladder by Christmas. We’re saved.”

“Shut up,” Z said. “At least I’m trying to get the hell out of here instead of waiting around, hoping for the best.”

Z pulled on the light again and snapped the plastic of the fixture while the wires barely moved.

“Z’s right,” Frankie said as Diana glared at him. “We have to keep trying. Why don’t you start braiding together some of the twine, and Rashid and Tad can build whatever stretcher they were thinking about while Z and I work on getting the wires out of the ceiling?”

If nothing else, it was something to do besides talk.

“I don’t need your help,” Z said. “I don’t need anyone’s goddamn help.”

“You needed my help when we had to get Kaitlin out from under that air conditioner,” Frankie said quietly. “I’d like to help get her to a doctor. Okay?”

“. . . authorities are pursuing leads on the identity of those believed to be behind setting the bombs. Meanwhile, the bomb units have disarmed a bomb discovered in the field house, and they are continuing to search for other devices as firefighters battle the fire, which finally appears to be under control. Two girls who escaped out of a window on the east side of the building are being treated for cuts and second-degree burns, and we are sorry to report that one of the firefighters injured by the device detonated when first responders went into the building has died from—”

“Yeah.” Z nodded and looked down at Frankie. “Sure. Feel free to help me tear the hell out of this school. You seem to like it fine, but it never did anything for me.”

Frankie climbed up onto the table and wrapped one of the wires around his hand, then pulled as hard as he could. Damn. The wire barely moved.

“Here, Diana, we also found a couple more small extension cords,” Rashid said behind him. “If you braid the cords with the twine and any wire Z and Frankie get, it might be strong enough to lower Kaitlin down after we finish with the stretcher.”

“Looks like we have to break this place apart faster if we’re going to help with Rashid’s plan,” Frankie said as Z yanked down on the light fixture and sent it crashing to the table, pulling several feet of wire with it.

“I . . .” Z tugged the wires. “Hate . . .” Z pulled again. “This . . . school.” He leaned his whole weight into it and almost crashed to the floor as more wire came free.